I forgot to do this last year, so I’m making up for it this year–happy St. Valentine’s Day to my loyal readers! The fact that you take the time to read these crazy little posts of mine truly means a lot. I’m not a big fan of the mushier aspects of the holiday–makes me gag, truth be told–but I like the idea of taking a day to let the people in our lives know that we care about them, whether we’re romantically involved with them or not. Oh, and the chocolate makes it tolerable, too.

How did the feast day of at least three different martyrs all named Valentine become immortalized as a day of love? (I say three because there are records of three different martyrs named Valentine sharing the feast day of February 14). Apparently the custom started in England and France in the Middle Ages when people noticed that the birds started choosing their mates around the middle of February–the 14th since February has 28 days. So people decided that February 14 would be a good day to express their love for each other as well.

In keeping with that theme, here is a very insightful speech on the nature of love from the 1968 comedy Yours, Mine, and Ours with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball. For those of you who don’t know, Yours, Mine, and Ours is the story of how the widower father of ten children marries a widowed mother of eight–and it’s based on a true story, believe it or not. If you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend it.